The Sword that wasn't Gryffindor's
by snakeskinrug
Summary: Just what was so special about that sword of Gryffindor's? Just a short bunny that was digging holes in my head, not likely to turn it into more even if i wanted to


The Sword That Wasn't Gryffindor's

1000BC

The people of Atlantis were a secretive race. Close enough genetically as to not stand out but so far in advance of anything on this planet that they despaired of the people's whose planet they now shared. The CityShip Atlantis was stranded its engines wrecked and there were none of the resources needed to repair them on the planet which they had landed. They stayed in their city trying in vain to fix their ship to return home and when their frustrations reached it's peak they disappeared into the populace of the planet to vent their frustrations. They were so far above the other creatures that dwelt there that they did not care of the outcome of these interactions until one of the women of Atlantis became pregnant by one of the savages. Only then did they realise what they had done.

Every rendevous had resulted in a child, a child half human and half Atlantean with some of their powers given to each child. They had released magic into this world and they did not like what they saw their magic doing to the people and beasts of the land. This latest child being half savage could not be raised in the city but they tasked him with the taming of what they had unleashed. They gave him a device which would contain the magic within boundaries he specified. he had to gather all living magical beings to within these boundaries. For a time he was successful but the magic cannot be contained forever it warped the minds and hearts of some. They managed to damage the devise and they fled to all corners of the earth. Merlin managed to change the purpose of the device to calm and pacify all magic that was within the boundaries. But even that too failed when the Atlanteans and their ship finally left the planet and a part of the power of merlins device also left. His task, the kingdom of Camelot died before his eyes as his own son turned the power to containing him.

"The Atlantean's have left, left their magic loose in this world and we who wield it. You cannot contain it and you cannot control it. That you continue to try makes you a danger to our future. We are a new race of people and this is our beginning. When you realise this power is our right of birth and that it is not the Atlanteans to decide our future course then you may return to our new world should you live long enough"

So saying Mordred sealed his own father within a cave sealed by a boulder. He thrust the sword deep into the stone and spoke in the tongue of his ancestors

"Do your purpose. Contain the magic within. Only when his head and heart are free of guilt and he acknowledges his task done should he be free"

900AD

Back in the time of legends even then there were myths. Only in this age there were only rumours to chase down no facts, no books, no way to know for sure. But he was sure, he didn't need facts and books were only good for learned folk, he couldn't read. But magic, that he knew as well as he knew his own name. He knew there was a strong magic. He could feel it calling to him pulling him closer towards… well that he didn't know. But it did not feel malicious in fact it felt like a part of him he could feel it pulsing in time with his own magic as if it was always meant for him to find.

For years he felt this pull on himself

"Come, come closer, come to me" was forever being called as he journeyed ever farther from his homeland. Through lands that spoke no tongue he knew of he stopped only when he came across others of his own kind. He learned from them their skills and he mastered them as his own and then moved on again, ever onwards towards the call.

Once or twice he was asked a boon in return for the knowledge he desired and so he found himself facing against a creature the like of which he had never seen before. The girl had been smart running as fast as her legs could carry her 'faster even' he thought and he realised she shared his gift but that there had been no one to teach her or else she had turned it inwards so as not to stand out in this small township. She was hidden now out of reach of the beast at the back of a cave, safe even from it's firey tongue. The mage as his next teacher called himself required the destruction of this beast in return for his knowledge and so he called upon all he had learned of magic and of life and turned it towards the death of this creature. His magics answered his call and the beast turned from the girl feeling the power of the man behind it. With a final burst of flame that encased his whole left side the beast then fell. But something wasn't right the beast had a powerful magic of its own and he could feel something changing in his magic and he was frightened. The pulse of it in his veins seemed to slow then pollute was the only way he could think of it. The call he had forever felt dimmed, then in defiance it screamed out at him and he felt compelled more than ever to journey on and journey quickly. But that he couldn't move the beast had destroyed much of his body and he feared he would never answer the call.

The girl came out then and gazed upon him.

"It was a foul thing that which thou just did. The Dragon is not merely dead you have destroyed it's very soul" she crept closer and stared through his eyes into his mind "The mage can teach you not but the destruction of life itself, you cannot learn his power without being consumed by it entirely. You are a good man I see and wish only to learn and share knowledge, you felt power in me and wish for me to wield it also.' She halted as if surprised by this 'my place is of healing the ills the mage imposed upon my people. With the death of the dragon his power will be broken. With our survival my people will be free of him. We have no choice now, you saved me by using your magic for destruction and death and now I will save you with my magic of healing and life. We shall learn from each other as we journey towards your call'

And she did, he was healed he could feel his very flesh reforming and stretching to cover where muscle showed freely and he felt his magic stir again recognising this girl and accepting her magic as it cleansed the stain in his own. His body shut down as his magic cleansed. And when he awoke this girl was still there.

"My village is free of the mage, his magic broke with the death of the Dragon, I do not understand how but I am grateful." She had been busy while he healed, the beast's skin had been rendered into boots and trous that seemed solid and untarnishable.

"Thanks to you. for my life would surely have ended without you help" His voice was horse as if not used for a long while"

"Not your life but your magic certainly would have been used up in keeping you alive. It matters not. You saved me from the Dragon for I could not kill it. So I saved you from the mortal wounds it inflicted upon you, I fear that the scars will forever adorn your handsome face" she looked mournful of this fact but he was not moved by it

"A lesson never to be forgotten lies in these scars. Magics should not be put to the use I demanded of it"

"No it should not. I am glad you understand that for I could not teach and be tought in return from one who did not understand this." She looked relieved.

"How did you know of my wish to teach you? I did not come here with that intent"

"I read it from your mind before healing you. It startled me for I have kept my powers as hidden as I can"

"yes I felt you there reading my intentions, had they not been honourable you would not have healed me" it was not a question but a truth they both knew

"once you are rested we shall continue your journey for we are bound by common purpose for now and the call will let you linger no longer"

"I feel this in my heart and know it to be true but the bond I feel in our magics does not tell me of a short companionship"

"no it shall take many years to learn each others skills and we shall travel many lands to reach your call and by then I think we shall know not but each other and a parting is unlikely. There are many uncertainties in how life will unfold but from now they will unfold together."

"The call pulls me west of here"

"no the call pulls us west of here"

"then sit and let us share a meal before rest and then a journey. I am Godric son of Oulric from a land whose name I cannot remember and I would know the name of my companion."

"In the township I am known as the healers aide but I was named Rowena by my father after my mother died birthing me."

Their journey was long and hard at times. Over the years the girl grew to be a tough young woman while they both grew wiser for each others insights, across mountains and deserts and seas they travelled pulled always onward toward whatever it was calling for Godric. They stopped on occasion weary of solitude and rested in towns and once a metropolis. Rowena was still young when she birthed a girl they named Helga. Godric had hunted down the man who took advantage of his sister but even an infant could not stop their journey. Helga grew with a gift for languages of the peoples they met as they travelled and even of the beasts with strong magic of their own. She learned everything her Mother and Uncle had to teach her while developing her own talent.

One day in Helga's tenth year nearly fifteen years from when Godric had slain the dragon they reached the shores of a new land, they were greeted with white cliffs and all three of them felt the pulse of magic that throbbed in the air of this land. Old and Forgotten Magics laid here and they would learn and teach any who possessed the gift they came across as they had done in countless lands before now. And there were many in this land with the gift. They told stories of a kingdom where a magic user advised the king they told of its fall and the breaking of the magic on the kingdom. In one township they found an old man with a beard as long as he was tall who told a story he heard as a boy from his great grandfather on his death bed which had been passed down through the family since the time of the kingdom of Camelot still existed. They learned much from this man of the mage Merlin the most powerful magic user they had ever heard of. They heard of his folly with a gift from the gods and his penitence to keep peace in the land his mistake had nearly destroyed. Of the peaceful web of magics he laid in the land so the men and women, beast and mage could all live in peace and how it was woven into the very minds of the populace of Camelot. He told them of the breaking of the web when the magic seemed to have no more purpose than to just hang in the very air of the land waiting for…something.

And so they searched for any trace of a story of Camelot for it was a glorious dream. Never had they found a land as seeped in ancient Magics as this and they revelled in it. Godrics call pulled them onwards, northwards passed the remains of the wall that marked the edge of the border of the old roman empire. Further north until the land became mountainous until it was singing in his ears and the magic sailed in every gust of wind.

They had found all that remained of the Kingdom of Camelot. The valley was vast. At one end were the ruins of a once great castle and at the other a lake, receding it seemed, in on itself towards a cave with a great boulder half covering it's entrance. The pull came from here. All these years had been leading to this and now he was compelled to complete his life's journey

Helga was able to read the writings on the boulder

"Here lies Myrddin Emmerys. Trapped for a timeless age with his Lady and her gift."

Embedded underneath the inscription was a sword gleaming in the afternoon sun and reflecting off of the shallows of the lake.

It was the sword which had called him. And now he was here close enough to pull it free of it's encasing and he felt sure that was it's intention to be free of the rock. And so he gripped it and pulled and as he did all around the country the magic sang. The dream of Camelot was reawoken in many minds. And at the other end of the land, in the budding city of what would become London, a silver haired man looked up and sighed. He locked the door to his workshop and went home intent on studying what had occurred in the web.

As Gordic held the sword up to the light he saw inscriptions in a language different to that on the stone but they held no meaning for him. He was encompassed in a vision of the past. The sword showed him the downfall of Camelot and the release of its magic into the kingdom, the harm it had caused to the people and the beasts.

Then there was another vision, one of a new castle in this same place where magic was strong and of children all with the gift, learning together. It was a good vision. And he shared it that night as he sat with Rowena and Helga and a boy they had found in the wild their latest student, Salazar. And they shared in this dream of teaching their Magics to all the people with the gift.

Thus was born the Dream that became Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.

They took the stones from the ruins of Camelot and moved them. In the middle of the valley they built their school in the design of the time they built a castle. Formidable enough to turn attackers away and large enough to house many hundreds of people. Rowena and Helga travelled again gathering people with the gift and they listened and returned building homesteads and farms where once the heart of Camelot had stood. A chamber was built around the tomb of Merlin (which had been empty when they looked) and the stone that had sheathed the sword. And the rains had raised the lake again so it was hidden. It was not meant to be found by any others.

The construction went quickly with the use of magic. Some of the townsfolk were well versed in their own magic different what Godric and Rowena and Helga had learnt on their way and Salazar's magic was different again though how they were not sure. Together they taught and learnt and once everyone in the village was taught. Salazar and Godric went out looking for more students. They met a Silver Haired man far south of their fiefdom who introduced them to a tool that would focus their magic and enhance it. A wand he called it, and they found the benefits so that they sent their students to him and they taught their enhanced Magics to everyone they could.

1065AD

"They are calling the township Hogsmeade and the castle Hogwarts" Helga held his hand, it was wrinkled with age and still there was scaring from the dragon decades ago.

"They can never know the truth of this place." He wheezed "it must pass beyond knowledge the power that is here that holds the magic of all this land in its web." She held him up and placed more pillows behind him to ease his breathing.

"do not fret Uncle we have never shared what was once here though I have grown to believe that Ollivander's knows."

"yes he appears now as he did even when I fist met him, I don't believe he will ever share the history of this place I believe he wishes to forget its failure. I don't think he will come here ever. too afraid is he of returning to his own tomb." His breathing was becoming shorter

"I had suspected as well that it was his tomb though I will never tell him of your suspicions. Rest easy the Sword has been returned to the stone and it's power fed into the Magics that protect the valley. It will only be released when the purpose of this castle begins to fall apart. Like it did for you it will call another to realise a new dream." Her eyes spoke the truth of this and he sighed in relief and closed his eyes as he felt his body shutting down, his magic no longer able to sustain it.

"Look after you brother Helga, see he does not stray I have seen it in his heart you must look after Salazar"

"And you must rejoin my mother, uncle. And one day we shall all be rejoined together" she smiled as he lay in peace. She would wait for Salazars return to entomb the body with Rowena's. But for now she continued to run their school seeing to the needs of the children they taught and the teachers they now had as well. And she prayed that their dream would last, of all people's with the gift gaining self fulfilment, learning and enhancing the magic they wielded.


End file.
